Northwestern University and Evanston's Only Daily News Source Since 1881

The Daily Northwestern

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Northwestern University and Evanston's Only Daily News Source Since 1881

The Daily Northwestern

Northwestern University and Evanston's Only Daily News Source Since 1881

The Daily Northwestern

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In the arena

Screenwriter John Logan can still remember the first time he talked to Hollywood director Oliver Stone. When Logan was in Australia working on a play, his agent called to tell him that the famous director wanted to collaborate on a football movie.

“He said, ‘Sit down. Oliver Stone is calling you in five minutes,'” said Logan, Speech ’83. “When I talked to (Stone), he said, ‘I want to do your movie. I’ll meet you in Tokyo in three days.'”

Three years and 26 drafts later, Logan and Stone celebrated the opening of the movie “Any Given Sunday” – and the launch of Logan’s screenwriting career. In addition to 14 plays, his list of screenwriting accomplishments now includes “Gladiator” and “Tornado!”

Logan, who taught playwriting at Northwestern for three years, also wrote the screenplay for the made-for-television movie “RKO 281,” which won a Golden Globe award last year. He is currently writing the 10th “Star Trek” movie, and he’s in the third week of production of “The Time Machine,” based on the book by H.G. Wells.

On March 25, the 39-year-old will dress in a simple black tuxedo and walk down a red carpet to vie for another honor: an Academy Award for the screenplay of Ridley Scott’s “Gladiator.”

“When Ridley first came to see me about a gladiator movie, I said, ‘You must be crazy. Who’s going to go see a gladiator movie in the year 2000?’ ” Logan said. “Ridley is so good at combining a great adventure movie with heart and soul.”

Logan is one of two Speech alumni nominated for Academy Awards this year. Leelai Demoz, Speech ’90, is nominated for the short documentary “On Tiptoe: Gentle Steps to Freedom.”

If both graduates win, they will become the fifth and sixth alumni to win Academy Awards.

BEVERLY HILLS, 90210

Logan said he spends about a week each month in California touching up his screenplays and working with directors.

“I have an apartment in Beverly Hills,” he said. “When I told my mother that the zip code was 90210, she said, ‘Oh, my God. That’s not a real zip code.'”

Logan said he fell in love with Evanston during college and that the city remains his home. Logan said most of his friends are not in the entertainment industry and that he prefers to make his life away from the Hollywood glamour.

“(Evanston) is unpretentious,” he said. “The danger of living in Los Angeles is that it’s so insular. It’s such a company town. Living here, I get to see real people occasionally.”

Even with his Beverly Hills zip code and “obscene” salary, Logan said he tries to remain grounded. Friends said despite his frenetic schedule, he tries to help young writers who call him for advice.

Logan said hard-core fans also track him down – mostly with letters about what should happen to his characters. Since he started the “Star Trek” screenplay, he said Trekkies have “come out of the woodwork” to give input.

“The Trekkies believe in these characters so much,” he said. “Make one misstep, and they’ll burn your house down.”

Logan said the show has been an “absolute passion” since he was 4, when he fought with his mother about watching TV.

“The Oscars are nice, but writing for ‘Star Trek’ is really a dream come true for me,” he said.

‘TOTAL IMMERSION’

Each day Logan said he gets up at 6 a.m., climbs the stairs to his top-floor office and starts writing. While writing the first draft of a screenplay, he said he tries for “total immersion,” stopping only to eat or when he gets too tired to continue.

During subsequent drafts, writing becomes a collaborative process, he said. In “Gladiator” the battle scenes were a collaboration between writers and Scott, the movie’s director.

“We’d sit in (Scott’s) office for hours,” Logan said. “He’d smoke cigars, and I’d smoke cigarettes, and he’d get out a sketch pad. He’s very visually oriented.”

Though Logan said he sometimes visits the sets of his movies, he usually is too busy with other projects to stay for long.

“Having a screenwriter on the set is like having a plumber on your honeymoon,” he said. “It’s good if you need him, but it’s better if you don’t.”

YOUNG AND STARVING

Logan said he entered NU with an eye on acting but turned to writing after taking a class with Speech Prof. David Downs. The professor quickly became his mentor, and Logan said he still visits Downs’ NU classes.

In Downs’ class, he wrote his first play, “Never the Sinner,” which premiered in Chicago in 1985. Seeing the play performed “put the nail in the coffin,” Logan said. He became hooked on writing for the stage.

And Logan had the opportunity to return the favor when Downs wrote his own play “Zealot” last year. Downs said Logan read the play and wrote him a 12-page, single-spaced response letter.

The NU professor then used Logan’s advice to revise his play.

After graduating from NU, Logan took a day job at the university’s law library to pay the bills, writing at night.

“I was just putting food on the table while I worked on my plays,” Logan said. “You’d work eight hours and you’d come home and write for eight hours. You’re young and you’re starving. That’s what you’re supposed to do.”

BUSINESS SAVVY

In college and in his professional life, Logan’s friends described him as confident, determined and driven to succeed.

Donna Branson, Speech ’85, met Logan at a play audition her freshman year.

Since then, she has acted in several of Logan’s plays and talks to him every day on the phone.

“He has an extraordinary quickness and intelligence,” she said. “He’s very shrewd, and he’s very clever. He’s a very good actor.”

While most college students went to parties and slept long hours, Logan would spend time writing scenes, she said.

“The kind of college life most of us experienced, he never did any of that,” Branson said. “He never drank. He never fell prey to the distracting shenanigans most of us fell prey to.

“I’ve never seen anyone with his discipline.”

Even when Logan goes to Los Angeles, he spends most of his time working on screenplays instead of rubbing elbows with the Hollywood elite, Downs said.

“He goes to L.A., and he works even though there are all kinds of distractions that come his way,” said Downs, who also taught “Friends” co-star David Schwimmer and “ER” co-star Laura Innes. “That’s going to keep him on top for as long as it’s possible.”

In addition to his screenwriting abilities, Downs said Logan also has good business acumen.

“He knows how to conduct the business of writing for Hollywood,” Downs said. “He doesn’t get caught up in the artistry. He knows which part is business and which part is art.”

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In the arena